Portrait of Dr Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) scientist, inventor and poet, grandfather of Charles Darwin 1770

Joseph Wright of Derby made this portrait of Dr. Erasmus Darwin using oil paint on canvas. This was standard practice for professional portraiture at the time. Yet, it is important to acknowledge the labor required for the raw materials that went into making this artwork. The canvas required flax, grown and processed, spun into thread, and woven. The oil paint itself involved grinding pigments into linseed oil, a messy and skilled process. Then there's the question of Wright's skill and labor - many hours of careful application to produce this likeness. The polished surface on which Darwin rests his arms could be mahogany from the West Indies, implicating the painting in colonial trade. Even the sitter’s clothes involve complex manufacturing processes. By considering all of this, we can appreciate the painting not just as an image, but as a material record of its time.